Released on March 22, 2026,
on 1332 Records.
Hus Kingpin is a revivalist. He makes no secret of it. Through his style anchored in old-school boom bap and his projects placed under the banner of the Bristol trip-hop scene (the two Portishus albums, The Tricky Tape) or of Björk (Bjorkingpin), he openly embraces his fascination with the 90s.
Another of his recent (and numerous) releases pays tribute to one of that defining decade’s touchstones, and no small one at that. Wavo Forever (Wavo being the Hempstead rapper’s other nickname) is not merely a nod to Wu-Tang Forever. It is, in fact, a compilation of work accumulated throughout Hus Kingpin’s career alongside members of the legendary collective. Some tracks appeared on past albums – including Hus Kingpin’s own Slime Wave in 2019 – and at least one comes from a Clan release, Ghostface Killah’s Lost Tapes, in 2018.
Ghostface, then, appears on Wavo Forever. But he’s not alone. Also featured are RZA, Inspectah Deck, and Raekwon (no less), notable affiliates such as Mathematics, Killah Priest, Shyheim, Wu Syndicate, and Bronze Nazareth, and a few outsiders like Kurupt, that old backpacker warhorse Planet Asia, and – well, well – Tricky. And so, from the very opening track “RZA Fangs,” with its hallucinatory lyrics and the producer’s lopsided loops, the whole thing feels more Wu than Wu itself.
What follows are beautiful string arrangements (on the aptly titled “Majestic”), insistent piano lines (“Wise Wave”), and insidious ones (Mathematics on “Ghost Of Camay”), all threaded through with strange soul samples. Film excerpts resurface as intros (not kung-fu this time, but a French-language dialogue on “The Pleasures”). There are also stories of trafficking and organized crime set to noir cinematic music (“Next Level” with Inspectah Deck, “Killers Theme” with Wu-Syndicate), a samurai allusion, cold street atmospheres, esoteric musings, and a slow, heavy, relentless beat. In other words: the finest music since the dawn of time.
And the most remarkable thing is that this assemblage holds together like a genuine album. The most beautiful thing, too, is that Hus Kingpin raps entirely at ease among such distinguished company. With very little to fault it, this stands as the best Clan-adjacent release in quite some time. Wu-Tang Forever. Wavo Forever.
